Please Scroll Down to See Forums Below I've been on a very modest cutting diet for a few weeks to shed some fat....about 300-500 calorie deficit (I think for the most part this is right)...but I am losing strenght in the gym....I have had to drop weights by like 1/3 if not more just to keep up with the reps...this is freaking me out, is this normal???
losing strenght on cutting diet...freakin out
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Protobuilder
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It depends. If you're at a very high level and really squeezing everything out of each set, then you'll probably drop a lot. But since you're asking a pretty basic cutting question, I"ll assume you're not at that level. So, no, it's not really normal to lose that much strength. First of all, is this just one workout? If so, it's an anomaly. Don't worry until it's happening across 2-4 sessions. Second, you've only cut 300-500 calories and your strength is plummeting? That's not normal, IMHO. Are you cutting out carbs to drop those cals? If so, you could not be properly fueld for your lifting. Thirdly, are you cutting cals from your pre/post workout meals? Again, if you are, you are undercutting your gym time. Don't do it.
Post more details re: avg. workouts and meal breakdowns.
Post more details re: avg. workouts and meal breakdowns.
T
thegoodfoods
Guest
the same thing happened to me. i noticed a strength deficit around 4 days after i started the cutting diet. i only cut off 400-500 cals a day. i'd say it's normal. i cut out 2/3 my carbs, though. carbs saturate the muscles. low carb diets especially make you lose more strength.
yea is been happening for at least last 5-6 sessions, weights feel like they weight a ton!
I am cutting carbs after 3pm only, but I have decent carb meals for breakfast and lunch like oatmeal and beans and dextrose as usual with post-wo meal.
I am basically on a 5x5 concentrating on big lifts as usual.
and the most noticeably strenght loss is in the squat and deadlift....(yikes!)
I am cutting carbs after 3pm only, but I have decent carb meals for breakfast and lunch like oatmeal and beans and dextrose as usual with post-wo meal.
I am basically on a 5x5 concentrating on big lifts as usual.
and the most noticeably strenght loss is in the squat and deadlift....(yikes!)
Sassy69
New member
You might consider a different approach on the carbs - use a carb rotation schedule. But further instead of just removing both the carbs & the calories assoicated w/ them, replace the same amount of cals of carbs removed w/ the same amount of cals in fats. E.g.
Day 1: 200 g carbs
Day 2: 100 g carbs - but replace the equal amount of cals of carbs w/ fats -- try to group it by meals - say if you have 2 meals w/ 5 oz potato, then remove the potatos from the 2 meals and replace w/ 2 tbsp of flax seed oil per meal - you'd have to check the total cals -but whatever amount of flax oil or almonds in cals = same amount of potato being replaced.
Day 3: 0-50 g carb -- -depends on how extreme you want to go - but just knock the total complex carb intake way down so your body is forced to search for stored fat sources to burn for energy, since it takes a few days for it to realize that its not gettign the regular amount of carbs it is used to (e.g. 200 g/day). So it won't slow down yet.
Day 4 = Day 1, repeat.
Or if you are really aggressive, go Day 4 = Day 3, then Day 5 = Day 1.
Get it? This way you are leveraging your body's short-term metabolism response to carbs and taking advantage of the fact that it takes a day or two for your metabolism to adjust down to a smaller than expected intake of carbs so it will look around for stored energy sources to burn. Then just before your metabolism starts to slow down in response to the carb intake,. you jump it back up, aka REFEED and restart the short term metabolic manipulation again. Also by replace the pulled carb calories w/ fat calories, you are only manipulating your macro ratios and not your total cals so you are less prone to notice the deficit.
This is how I've cut down to around 7% bf for competitions. Works great. You may have to experiment a little to get a carb cycle schedule that works for you - you will feel the lack of carbs on Day 3 - maybe get tired, cranky, etc. but you refeed right away to help keep that to a minimum. YOu won't be low carbing long enough to go into ketosis and really feel exhausted.
HEre are a couple threads w/ some carb cycling discussion:
http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showthread.php?t=490722&highlight=Carb+cycle
http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showthread.php?t=481229
BLah, can't find any others right now, but hit me up if you have questions about it. If your lifting is suffering a lot from cutting, then try a different approach. If you are cutting to the point of compeittion prep, then yes, expect your strength to be impacted, but if you aren't on that tight of a schedule, then it shouldn't and doesn't have to.
Day 1: 200 g carbs
Day 2: 100 g carbs - but replace the equal amount of cals of carbs w/ fats -- try to group it by meals - say if you have 2 meals w/ 5 oz potato, then remove the potatos from the 2 meals and replace w/ 2 tbsp of flax seed oil per meal - you'd have to check the total cals -but whatever amount of flax oil or almonds in cals = same amount of potato being replaced.
Day 3: 0-50 g carb -- -depends on how extreme you want to go - but just knock the total complex carb intake way down so your body is forced to search for stored fat sources to burn for energy, since it takes a few days for it to realize that its not gettign the regular amount of carbs it is used to (e.g. 200 g/day). So it won't slow down yet.
Day 4 = Day 1, repeat.
Or if you are really aggressive, go Day 4 = Day 3, then Day 5 = Day 1.
Get it? This way you are leveraging your body's short-term metabolism response to carbs and taking advantage of the fact that it takes a day or two for your metabolism to adjust down to a smaller than expected intake of carbs so it will look around for stored energy sources to burn. Then just before your metabolism starts to slow down in response to the carb intake,. you jump it back up, aka REFEED and restart the short term metabolic manipulation again. Also by replace the pulled carb calories w/ fat calories, you are only manipulating your macro ratios and not your total cals so you are less prone to notice the deficit.
This is how I've cut down to around 7% bf for competitions. Works great. You may have to experiment a little to get a carb cycle schedule that works for you - you will feel the lack of carbs on Day 3 - maybe get tired, cranky, etc. but you refeed right away to help keep that to a minimum. YOu won't be low carbing long enough to go into ketosis and really feel exhausted.
HEre are a couple threads w/ some carb cycling discussion:
http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showthread.php?t=490722&highlight=Carb+cycle
http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showthread.php?t=481229
BLah, can't find any others right now, but hit me up if you have questions about it. If your lifting is suffering a lot from cutting, then try a different approach. If you are cutting to the point of compeittion prep, then yes, expect your strength to be impacted, but if you aren't on that tight of a schedule, then it shouldn't and doesn't have to.
T
thegoodfoods
Guest
ever since i went on a diet i've been eating like crazy. i eat super healthy food, but a lot of it. quality fat and muscle's buildin up. i think my body went into starvation mode. i heard that somewhere. it's like your body goes through a traumatic event when you take away calories and it doesn't want that to happen to it again so it stimulates its own appetite to eat more. that ever happen to anyone?
Tweakle
New member
diets suck
you could be overdoing the cardio, or like me if you go into any kind of cal deficit you become captain catabolism and your low rep strength plummets.
I found doing higher reps when cutting was the only way to stay sane as my strength in the 8-10 rep range wasnt as severely compromised
you could be overdoing the cardio, or like me if you go into any kind of cal deficit you become captain catabolism and your low rep strength plummets.
I found doing higher reps when cutting was the only way to stay sane as my strength in the 8-10 rep range wasnt as severely compromised
good advice....I actually not doing cardio, since a lot of folks on the board convinced my dropping BF is possible w/o it, just weights....but I do think
i am doing better with 8-10 rep range, going to try that for a bit and see, but so far I only dropped like 5 pounds...after like 8 weeks or so...
i am doing better with 8-10 rep range, going to try that for a bit and see, but so far I only dropped like 5 pounds...after like 8 weeks or so...
